Homaro Cantu

"(After Trotter gave a talk at UCLA), there were all these people asking for his signature, and I asked him a very simple question: 'Are there any purple foods other than purple carrots that we can cook with?' And he was like, 'Yeah, there's purple potatoes, there's purple corn from Peru, all this stuff.' Now fast forward: I'm meeting this guy in his restaurant (two years later). Charlie's like, 'So, you came from California to be here?' I'm like, 'Yep, this is the only restaurant I'm going to work at. I'm going to be your sous-chef someday.' He's like, 'You asked me about purple carrots at UCLA once.' I'm like, 'Yeah, that was me,' and he's like, 'All right, well, you have work to do.' And that basically meant that I was hired." -- Homaro Cantu (Trotter's cook/sous-chef, 1999-2003; executive chef, Moto, iNG)

"(After Trotter gave a talk at UCLA), there were all these people asking for his signature, and I asked him a very simple question: 'Are there any purple foods other than purple carrots that we can cook with?' And he was like, 'Yeah, there's purple potatoes, there's purple corn from Peru, all this stuff.' Now fast forward: I'm meeting this guy in his restaurant (two years later). Charlie's like, 'So, you came from California to be here?' I'm like, 'Yep, this is the only restaurant I'm going to work at. I'm going to be your sous-chef someday.' He's like, 'You asked me about purple carrots at UCLA once.' I'm like, 'Yeah, that was me,' and he's like, 'All right, well, you have work to do.' And that basically meant that I was hired." -- Homaro Cantu (Trotter's cook/sous-chef, 1999-2003; executive chef, Moto, iNG)

"(After Trotter gave a talk at UCLA), there were all these people asking for his signature, and I asked him a very simple question: 'Are there any purple foods other than purple carrots that we can cook with?' And he was like, 'Yeah, there's purple potatoes, there's purple corn from Peru, all this stuff.' Now fast forward: I'm meeting this guy in his restaurant (two years later). Charlie's like, 'So, you came from California to be here?' I'm like, 'Yep, this is the only restaurant I'm going to work at. I'm going to be your sous-chef someday.' He's like, 'You asked me about purple carrots at UCLA once.' I'm like, 'Yeah, that was me,' and he's like, 'All right, well, you have work to do.' And that basically meant that I was hired." -- Homaro Cantu (Trotter's cook/sous-chef, 1999-2003; executive chef, Moto, iNG)